I play FPS's with a simple optical mouse that has little 'feet' at the base. I find that the feet regularly pick up 'lint' which changes the movement of the mouse, hence throwing off my aim. Currently, I have to scratch it off with my fingernails every few rounds, but I would like a solution that would prevent the lint from appearing in the first place.

The gooey part of the lint is mostly dead skin cells so there's not much you can do to avoid it. Try washing your hands before using the mouse and using a smooth plastic mouse pad instead of a cloth faced one.

I appreciate the answer, however the scratching off takes ten seconds. I'm hoping to avoid the build up of lint in the first place.
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mechkoAug 10 '10 at 2:00

Yeah fair enough... what sort of surface do you run your mouse on? Do you use a mouse mat? What type of mouse mat? The glass one I used to use was pretty good for reducing the buildup (as opposed to the cloth/rubber ones), but short of making sure the surface is clean and dust free before you start your gaming session I'm not sure what to suggest :)
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MattAug 10 '10 at 2:17

My mouse feet were stickier than normal, so I would apply nail polish remover (or rubbing alcohol) to clean and prolong the collection of lint. And like others have said, I would get a decent mouse pad, since a few bucks will save you constant aggravation of scratching off the mouse feet.